Iraq`s Maliki hails `peaceful change` in Egypt: US

Washington: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed Egypt`s "peaceful transition" from authoritarian rule, the White House said after he spoke with US Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday.

"Both leaders welcomed the peaceful change in Egypt and commended the Egyptian Army for respecting the wishes of the Egyptian people," the White House said in a statement.

Biden called the leader of Iraq, which underwent its own painful years-long transition to democracy after a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein`s regime in 2003, as "part of his outreach to US allies and partners”, according to the statement.

The US vice president also "commended the Prime Minister for his role in consolidating Iraq`s democratic progress" as the country inched toward a fully formed government.

Iraq is one of the few democracies in the Arab world, where leaders have carefully watched the revolutions in Tunisia and then Egypt to see if similar revolts could spread to other Arab nations.

Egypt`s president Hosni Mubarak, who resigned on Friday after three decades in power, and Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who departed after ruling for 23 years on January 14, both bowed to unprecedented waves of popular protests.